Utah’s Fan Club Leader: Great Salt Lake Clothing Company

We love business. We especially love small businesses. And we profoundly love small businesses in Utah who are seriously kicking it and putting smiles on people’s faces. Hence, our total delight in highlighting Great Salt Lake Clothing Company on the blog today. (P.S. check out the promo code at the bottom of this page!)

Great Salt Lake Clothing Company was pioneered by Dave Marquart and Mike Martin; Two bearded dudes who love this good ol’ Beehive State that we all call home. Dave took the time to share with us a bit of their story.

“We wanted to buy cool looking shirts for ourselves and friends that featured all the interesting, weird, great things about Salt Lake and Utah but couldn’t find anything we liked. The options beyond generic “Salt Lake City, Utah” scratchy cotton t-shirts were almost non-existent. So we started designing shirts and our friends liked them enough that we started printing them. When they started selling quickly, we started designing more!”

The designs by GSL Clothing Company have quickly become popular in the western United States and even with a couple Utah-loving Canadians. Their second line of shirts is about to be released and where they go from here is getting customers reeling. They plan to expand their line and include hoodies, long sleeve tees and hats and posters, releasing 3-5 new designs each quarter. After each new release, they plan to have a launch party at a local bar. (Sa-weet!)

“Whatever we sell over the next year or two, we want it to solidify our reputation as the leaders of Utah’s fan club. It’s such an amazing state – we are psyched to step up and give people a way show their pride for it!”

What makes GSL Clothing Company different from other clothing companies? A lot of things. But here are 6 reasons why we think they rock!

The GSL guys really care about and appreciate their customers, and take the time to show them that.

“We both believe in creating a relationship with everyone who purchases a shirt from us. To that end, I write a small hand-written thank you note to everyone who buys a GSL shirt – we think it’s a nice, personal touch from the GSL guys.”

GSL Clothing makes wickedly sweet shirts that not only creatively boast of our home state but are super comfortable.

“We both think shirts need to be soft. So we chose to print on one of the softest shirts we could find. It’s one of the major ways we hope to set ourselves apart from the rest of the generic gift shop gear out there.”

The founders of GSL Clothing are also the principal employees of Beehive Sport and Social Club, a year round adult recreational sports club specializing in kickball, dodgeball and other sports most adults haven’t played since they were in 6th grade. Learn more here.

“Needless to say we like to have a lot of fun.”

The GSL designers are full of talent and spunk and have been booked for some pretty prestigious gigs.

“Within 6 weeks of starting GSL we hit the lottery and were commissioned by the Utah Film Commission to design a t-shirt for all the filmmakers at this year’s Sundance film festival.”

The GSL guys are passionate about dedicating a portion of their shirt sales to a great local cause. Toward that goal they’ve pledged to give 1 can of soup to the Crossroads Urban Center food pantry for every t-shirt they sell.

“We are also passionate about the small business entrepreneur/artist community in SLC. We firmly believe its health will always be a great indicator of the health of the city as a whole. To support the work of the folks around town we admired we’ve highlighted ski shops, vodka distillers, artists and many more on our blog.”

Companies like GSL Clothing are what we need more of in Utah. They are unique, genuine, full of personality, trustworthy and offer a quality product. And we like that. Check out some of their stuff!They are featuring a special promo for readers of the City Launch blog. Anyone who uses code CITYLAUNCH at their website’s checkout page will save 15%.

Meet the Founders

Dave Marquardt

Chief Fun Officer, forever kid, and entrepreneur of awesome things. Hobbies include kickball, boating, beer tasting at Murphy’s, and doing whatever it takes to get on national television.